Free Camping on Magnolia Beach, Texas

We had an amazing time boondocking on Padre Island, but it was the most intense camping we’ve ever done. The wind, sand, sun and salt did a number on us and the rig. As we ventured further north on the Texas coast, we were hoping to find a more peaceful version of beach boondocking.

Magnolia Beach was just what we were looking for. The ground was more solid, the tides were less extreme, and the amenities rocked, too!

While changing tides should always be observed, the tides at Magnolia Beach were much less threatening than the tides at Padre Island.

Watch the video:

Here’s the breakdown:

Date/Temp: We pulled into Magnolia Beach during early March, just as a cold-front was moving through. The days were in the mid 70s with heavy wind and the evenings were a mild 50.

Amenities: While this site offers no hook-ups, they do have a great bathroom & shower facility. They are cleaned daily and well respected by fellow campers. We’ve yet to see a water spigot, but haven’t looked too hard. If you need to dump or fill your tanks, there are a few RV parks in a one mile radius. The site also offers many trash cans for easy disposal.

Wifi/Cell: Cellular Internet connection was pretty good here. Our AT&T had fast 4G connection throughout our stay; T-Mobile had fast 4G as well, but only a 70% uptime. During the evenings the service would drop out.

Noise: This is definitely peaceful beach camping with enough space to spread out and have some privacy. The sound of the waves is much more calming here than on Padre Island. However, the wind has been intense throughout our stay.

Grocery/Errands: Port Lavaca is the nearest town with shopping. There is a nice HEB and a Walmart. The town also has a few parts-shops and gas stations. We’d recommend coming stocked up with supplies, or shopping at the HEB.

Dog Friendly: The beach is very dog friendly if your pup loves the water. We didn’t see any signage regarding leash rules and saw a 50/50 split of leashed & unleashed dogs.

Entertainment: The main source of entertainment here is the beach. Many of the campers enjoyed the days fishing. We also saw kayakers and bird-watchers. If you like to chill, this is a great stop.

UPDATE: We’ve begun work on a new music project! In April we’ll enter the recording studio to capture an album inspired by life on the road. If you’ve found our blogs informative or inspirational, please give this a look. We need your help to complete the album.

Many folks have had similar questions. Our view is that we live this life to explore and experience… while we don’t live recklessly, we also don’t want a little rust scare us from beautiful beach boondocking.

Hi Kyle and Olivia!
We just finished up a week at Magnolia Beach and it was actually our first real boondocking experience!! We have 2 Chocolate Labs who absolutely LOVED it on the beach! There were very few other rigs on the beach and it was easy to pull right up to the shoreline to get a spot! We met several other campers and some locals and everyone was sooo very nice! The beach is indeed clean and well kept up plus those showers were absolutely amazing! Thanks for your video about this wonderful place…we will definitely be back again!